Agent Virus of Cooperation (Avicoop): an Intelligent Model of Cooperation and Collaboration Based on the MAS for Data Exchange in Ad hoc Network

The authors propose in this paper a response to the problem of cooperation and collaboration between nodes in a Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) for intelligent data relays from one source to a destination. In their operation, each routing protocol relies on the support of each node for end-to-end messages routing by completely ignoring the autonomous nature of the node that is to be free to accept, reject, relay or otherwise simply manipulate the protocol's principle. This random and unpredictable behavior of the node impacts on the routing effectiveness in the global network. Their approach is based on Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and game theory, especially the iterated version of the Prisoner's Dilemma. The proposed model is validated by a prototype.